Safety attachment for clothes wringers



July 13, 1937. F. c. LINDSEY SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS Filed July 27, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR- 1'7 Cfllz'nasey,

. i v BY AT-TORNEY July 13, 1937. F. c. LINDSEY SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR CLQTHES WRINGERS Filed July 27, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MU ll'i I 2T cfLzhdse INVENTOR- AT ORNEY.

Patented July 13, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS Claims.

This invention relates to clothes wringers, and particularly to safety attachments for clothes wringers.

One object of this invention is to provide 5 modern clothes wringers with means for making them safer with respect to injury to the user as well as to the clothing being wrung thereby.

Another object is to provide an improved clothes guarding unit that is attachable to the '10 upper roller-axles of any modern electrically operated or power-operated clothes wringer of the type here shown and briefly described.

Another object is to provide this attachment with an improved attaching means by which it is moved upward and downward with the upper roller so as to keep the brushes or deflectors thereof substantially level with the axis of the upper roller as the latter is raised and lowered in its operation on washed articles of greater or less thickness.

Another object is to utilize the usual roller-end guards as guides for the brackets that support the brushes or clothes deflectors.

Another object is to provide an improved clothes feeding attachment that can be attached quickly and easily to a Wringer of the modern type, mentioned, and which includes an improved form of clothes guarding and clothes feeding belt mounted and controlled in an improved manner,

whereby the clothes are fed to the rollers without danger to the hands of the operator or to the clothes.

Another object is to provide an improved unitary attachment that includes a combined feedbelt tightener and automatic drain-plate adjuster or reverser.

' Other objects and important features are pointed out or implied in the following detaildescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a part of a wringerframe having my improved clothes-guarding unit fitted in the roller-end guards.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the sheet metal brush-holding brackets, disconnected.

Fig. 3 is a fragmental sectional view taken along the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view, mainly in front elevation, but showing parts of the frame broken away, the lower part thereof in vertical section, a part of the upper clothes-guarding unit broken out, and parts of the lower attachment in section near the middle thereof.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken along the 55 line 54 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken in slightly diiferent planes substantially along the lines 6-5 of Fig. 4, the upper clothes-guard being omitted.

Before describing the attachments, the con- 5 ventional modern wringer will first be described; for though this is of the general type currently on sale, and known by the names Thor, Barton, Easy, G. E. Hot Point, Hibbards True Value, Horton, etc.; there are doubtless 10 other types which are more or less modern and to which this invention may not be applicable; but it should be understood that the field of usefulness of this invention is not limited to the several clothes wringers mentioned above. 5

The wringer-frame is substantially in the shape of a hollow ssuare, its lower or main section A being formed of U-beams, the lower U-beam being inverted so its lower side is open while its upper side has fastener-receiving holes a there- 20 through. The edges of the uprights are turned inward at a. The upper removable part of the main frame is shown at B, and is an inverted U-beam having its lower side open to receive the pressure-spring C that bears upon the upper 25 bearing blocks D, in the uprights, as shown in Fig. 6. The lower roller E, of rubber or composition, has its axle journaled in the conventional bearings within the uprights of the frame AB, its driving axle being shown at e. The upper 30 roller (of conventional material), is shown at F, and its journals 1 are engaged with the bearing blocks D and thereby pressed towards the lower roller E. A pair of roller-end guards are shown at G, each one being of sheet metal stamped and 35 pressed into substantially U-shape, as more clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 6. Each guard G has a flange g that covers the spaces between the roller ends and the uprights of the main frame; and each member G also has somewhat springy 40 attaching flanges 9 that interengage with the flanges a (of the uprights) so as to removably secure them in their respective places. No novelty is claimed for the structure thus far described.

Referring to the reference numerals on the drawings, the invention is described as follows:

To prevent the clothes (being wrung) from wrapping around the upper roller, I provide two deflectors ID which are preferably in the form of long stiff-bristle brushes supported at opposite sides of the upper roller F and in contact therewith in the horizontal axial plane thereof, their supporting means being the axles of the upper roller in connection with two sheet-metal brackets or carriers H which have openings Ha therethrough to receive the respective axles therethrough. Each member ii also has angularly disposed parallel opposite flanges lib, and from the edges of these flanges extend two angular arms lie, having screw-holes lid through which extend the screws or bolts for securing the brushes I0 thereto; so the latter are securely united with their carriers H to form a unitary attachment to the upper roller F; but it should be understood that the beam B must first be removed, the upper roller next removed, and the axles f passed through the openings iia before the union of the brushes and their carriers is the upper rollermoves downward, the deflectors it) move downward therewith, always remaining ,in the proper definite relation to the upper roller,

as described.

Therefore, if an article of clothing adheres to the upper roller and starts to wrap around it, the deflecting device will push the clothing free from adhering to the roller and permit it to fall and to pass from the wringer in the proper manner.

The lower attachment includes a sheet metal base or frame l2 having a bottom or drain-plate formed with oppositely inclined parts i201, and a central apertured part 12b through which extend thumb-screws or fasteners i3 for securing it on the lower beam of the main frame A, said fasteners also extending through the holes a. The member l2 also includes side-walls iZc, each having its middle upper part formed with an upwardly opening recess or space lZd of the proper size and shape to receive the respective roller end guards, or at least the lower end thereof. Each wall He is also provided with bearings 12c, either formed integrally therewith, or united therewith by any proper securing means.

A pair. of long and slender belt-pulleys M have their, axles l5 journaled in the bearings He, the middle parts. of these pulleys being bulged for a purpose well known by the users of beltpulleys, and also for the specialpurpose of making these long slender pulleys relatively light and rigid. The axes of these pulleys are considerably lower than the axis of the lower wringer roller. A belt or feeding apron I5 extends around these pulleys and around the lower wringer roller E, so that its upper reach extends between the lower and upper rollers, while its lower reach is spring-held against the lower side of the lower roller by means of a combined belt-tightener and drain deflector now described as follows:

A belt-tightening roller H has its journals 58 supported in bearings ill of a sheet metal spring or flat spring 20 which is secured to a tilting drain-plate 2i and to a rod 22 by any appropriate means, for instance, by flat strips 23 that extend through apertures of the drain-plate 2i and embrace the spring 20 and rod 22. These members 26, El, 22 and 23 are also preferably soldered or welded together for securing them in fixed relation to one another. To prevent longitudinal movement of the rod 22 and its adjuncts, and to secure it in its effective position, its ends may be bent downward, as shown, and passed into holes 12 in the part i213 of the base i2;

but this is only one of a number of ways the same result may be obtained. In this disclosure,

however, it should be understood that the holes 12f are large enough to permit the rod to be turned as on its longitudinal axis, so the drainplate H can turn therewith from the level position, shown in full lines (Fig. 6) to the inclined position shown in broken lines, and then to the opposite inclined position, according to the direction of rotation of the lower roller E and belt or apron I6. Assuming that the clothes are fed to the apron H6 at the right side of Fig. 6, the belt traveling in the direction of the straight arrows, the lower roller rotating in the direction of the curved arrow thereon, it is seen that the action or pull of the belt or apron against the roller i1 moves it to the broken line position and tilts the drain-plate 2! to its broken line position; and all the while, the roller i'i remains tightly pressed against the lower reach of the belt It so as to tighten it against the lower wringer roller, so the latter exerts frictional pulling action on the lower reach of the belt as well as on its upper reach, thus minimizing the slipping tendency caused by soapy water in the clothes being continually making the rollers slippery.

To still further minimize the slippingtendency of the belt, both sides thereof may be roughened or minutely cross-corrugated as indicated at lfia, but this has not been found essential where the spring 20 is stiff enough to press the roller H, and thereby the belt it against the lower roller with sufficient force to penetrate the soapy film on the roller E, assumingthat such film may have found its way to the lower roller from the edges of the belt it. The cross-corrugations lta may be formed of a surface-coat of rubber upon the woven fabric base of the belt, though the invention is not limited to this form of belt. Neither is the invention limited to the other precise details set forth, for the same is sus ceptible of numerous changes within the scope of the inventive ideas as implied and hereinafter claimed.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In an attachment for a clothes wringer which includes a main frame that comprises a horizontal lower beam and upright beams and also comprises upper and lower rollers having journals journaled in the upright beams; said attachment comprising the combination of a drain-plate provided with means for attaching it to said lower beam, said drain-plate having upright walls at its opposite ends, each of said walls having bearings at opposite end portions, long and slender pulleys .journaled in said bearings of the walls, a clothes-feeding belt on and around said pulleys and adapted to receive said lower roller therethrough between its upper and lower reaches from one to the other of said pul leys, a spring having upwardly pressed bearings plate to which said spring is secured so that oppositely directed movements of said belt will move said belt-tightening pulley in opposite directions and thereby tilt said second drain-plate to oppositely inclined positions.

' 3. The combination with a clothes wringer which includes a frame having a horizontal lower part with uprights on its ends, upper and lower rollers having journals, and bearings for said journals in said uprights; of an attachment including belt pulleys connected with said frame and disposed at opposite sides of said rollers, a clothes-feeding belt around said pulleys and having a lower reach under the lower roller and an upper reach between the lower and upper rollers, and a belt-tightening roller provided with springy means in said frame to yieldingly compensate for wear of the journals of said lower roller and said belt-tightening roller while spring-pressing it upward against the lower reach of the belt and thereby press the lower reach upward against said lower roller.

4. The combination defined by claim 7, a drainplate under said belt said means including a second drain-plate tiltably mounted over the first said drain-plate and operable for movement to oppositely inclined positions, and upwardly spring-pressed bearings mounted on said second drain-plate and rotatably supporting said belttightening roller while pressing it against said belt so that the belts movements in opposite directions effects bodily movement of the belttightening roller in opposite directions and thereby tilts the second drain-plate to its oppositely inclined positions.

5. In combination with a clothes wringer which includes a main frame that comprises a horizontal lower beam and upright beams and also comprises upper and lower rollers having journals journaled in the upright beams; a combined feeding and guidingattachment which comprises the sub-combination of a drain plate provided with means for attaching it to said lower beam, said drain-plate having upright Walls at its opposite sides, each of said walls having a recess containing a roller-end guard that normally has adjacent ends of the upper and lower rollers extending thereinto so as to prevent material being wrung from protruding beyond the ends of the rollers, long and slender belt-pulleys having journals rotatably supported by said walls of the drain-plate, and a clothes-feeding belt on and around said pulleys and normally having said lower roller therethrough between its upper and lower reaches that extend from one to the other or" said long and slender pulleys.

FREDERICK C. LINDSEY. 

